Eiichiro Oda(尾田 栄一郎,Oda Eiichirō?) (born January 1, 1975) is a Japanese manga artist, best known for his manga series One Piece (1997–present). With over 345 million copies in circulation worldwide, One Piece is the best-selling manga series of all time. The series' popularity resulted in him being named one of the manga artists that changed the history of manga.

Contents

Eiichiro Oda claimed that he resolved to become a manga artist at age of one in order to avoid having to get a "real job".[1] His biggest influence is Akira Toriyama and his series Dragon Ball.[1][2] He recalls that his interest in pirates was probably sparked by the popular TV animation series titled Vicky the Viking.[3] He submitted a character named Pandaman for Yudetamago's classic wrestling manga Kinnikuman. Pandaman was not only used in a chapter of the manga but would later return as a recurring cameo character in Oda's own works.

During this time, Oda drew two pirate-themed one-shot stories called "Romance Dawn", which were published in Akamaru Jump and Weekly Shōnen Jump respectively in late 1996.[5][6] "Romance Dawn" featured Monkey D. Luffy as the protagonist, who then became the protagonist of One Piece.

In 1997, One Piece began serialization in Weekly Shōnen Jump and has become not only one of the most popular manga in Japan, but the best-selling manga series of all time. It sold 100 million collected tankōbon volumes by February 2005, over 200 million by February 2011, and had over 345 million volumes in circulation worldwide as of 2013.[7][8] Additionally, individual volumes of One Piece have broken publishing records in Japan. Volume 56 received the highest initial print run of any manga, 2.85 million copies, in 2009.[9] Volume 57's print of 3 million in 2010 was the highest first print for any book in Japan, not just manga. A record that was broken several times by subsequent volumes and currently held by 67's 4.05 million initial printing in 2012.[10] In 2013, the series won the 41st Japan Cartoonists Association Award Grand Prize, alongside Kimuchi Yokoyama's Nekodarake Nice.[11]

In a 2008 poll, conducted by marketing research firm Oricon, Oda was elected fifth most favorite manga artists of Japan. He shared the place with Yoshihiro Togashi, creator of YuYu Hakusho and Hunter × Hunter.[12] In their 2010 poll on the Mangaka that Changed the History of Manga, Oda came in fourth.[13]

For the tenth One Piece animated theatrical film, Strong World, Oda created the film's story, drew over 120 drawings for guidance and insisted Mr. Children provide the theme song.[14][15] Additionally, a special chapter of the manga was created and included in tankōbon volume 0, which was given free to attendees of the film and also contained his drawings for the film.[16]

Oda and Akira Toriyama created a 2007 crossover one-shot called Cross Epoch, that contains characters from Toriyama's Dragon Ball and Oda's One Piece. In 2013, they each designed a Gaist character for the video game Gaist Crusher.[17]

Oda considers Masashi Kishimoto the author of fellow Shonen Jump series Naruto as both a rival and a friend. In the same Shonen Jump volume as the release of Naruto's final two chapters along with One Piece Chapter 766 (whose cover art is also done as a tribute), Oda also left a comment in the author comments section as a sendoff message, where he commented that he was glad to have serialized with Kishimoto for 15 years.[20]

In 2009, a woman was arrested for sending roughly one hundred threatening emails to Oda between September to December 2007. The woman's husband was an assistant at Oda's office who had been dismissed.[21]